A new plan to create a train-viewing platform next to the Plant City Union Depot is gaining steam.
Members of the community, downtown merchants, Plant City and the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce met April 17, to discuss the details.
The platform will be situated on the south side of the depot about 3 feet off the ground, so viewers will be in line with the sill of the box car. An additional platform will give railroad enthusiasts an overhead view, sitting 14 feet above the track in a tower. The project is estimated to take no longer than six months to complete.
Project coordinators already have secured a $25,000 grant from CSX for the construction. They have applied for another grant but will not know its status until the end of the year. The anticipated cost for the project is no more than $200,000.
“No city monies will be used,” Mayor Mike Sparkman said.
David Miller has been appointed chair of the capital campaign.
“We have to expand the vision and scope to make this project a commemoration of railroad heritage,” Miller said. “Plant City wouldn’t be here without the railroad.”
To honor the heritage, organizers also discussed adding a collection of memorabilia around the platform.
Organizers hope the platform not only will provide a safe viewing area for hobbyists but also bring people to Plant City. About 25 trains come through the town every day.
“Downtown merchants will not believe what will happen when we get this,” Lizz Harmon, of Harmon Tampa Public Relations, said.
Harmon along with her husband, “railfan” Danny Harmon, were brought in to help generate buzz about the platform.
The organizers have looked at the “Folkston Funnel” viewing platform in Georgia as a model. Folkston has about 60 trains daily.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.